We all must suffer: Documentation of continued abuses during Kanbuak to Mayingkalay pipeline ruptures

July 5, 2010

Introduction

The Kanbauk to Mayingkalaly gas pipeline has been in operation for nearly 10 years, and continues to be the direct motivating factor for human rights abuses committed by Burmese military battalions that inundate the area. In addition, despite the operational status of the pipeline, villages and farms abutting the pipeline continue to be haunted by lasting effects of poor construction, technology, and a lack of interest on the part of the current junta in persevering the environment, or the lives and wellbeing, of local residents.
Adobe Acrobat PDFDownload report as PDF [315KB]

In 2009 HURFOM released its yearly report, Laid Waste, which documented the extensive abuses committed by local battalions during the construction process. Beyond that report, the Kanbauk to Mayingkalay gas pipeline has received relatively little scrutiny or attention from either international advocacy groups or human rights documentation teams.  This vacuum is due in large part to the extreme security measures the militarization of the pipeline area has created, and the dangers of operating within the Burmese military’s ‘black areas’, or free fire zones, in which the army is able steal from, abuse and execute locals with impunity. Due to this larger absence of information pertaining to the human rights situations revolving around the Kanbauk to Mayaying Kalay gas pipeline, HURFOM will highlight the ongoing abuses committed by local battalions and the high rate of ruptures and explosions that occur along the pipeline due to poor construction.

Updating HURFOMS documentation of the K-MK project, this report will document the diverse array of human rights abuses that continue to be committed by battalions of the Burmese State Peace and Development Council (SPDC). These abuses predominately revolve around maintenance of the pipeline, sustenance of the numerous local battalions, and security threats, both real and perceived, through which battalions are able to ostensibly justify their presence.

The presence of Kanbauk to Mayinkalay and a history of ruptures

In 2000 the SPDC broke ground on what would become the over 180 mile Kanbauk to Myainkalay gas pipeline. Branching from the Yadana gas pipeline[1] at a Total Pipeline Center near Kanbuabk in northern Yebyu Township, The 20 inch wide pipeline carries an average of 100 million standard cubic feet [of what] per day (mmscfd) for 183 miles. The pipeline then arrives at two twin cement factories in Myainkalay, before a portion of the gas is directed towards a electric gas turbine supporting Rangoon.

Prior to the construction of the pipeline, the area had been composed of various terrains and home to several ethnic groups. At that time the Burmese military only fielded 13 battalions along the length of the pipeline. However as construction progressed, 20 new battalions were introduced to the area, bringing the total number of battalions to be based around the pipeline area to over 32.

Rather then engaging insurgent groups or continuing battles for dominance of the area, the presence of these battalions has predominantly been used to maintain and secure the pipeline through the use of local resources and labor.[2][3] This has resulted in systematized abuses committed against villagers due directly to the presence of these battalions. Villagers have continuously reported to HURFOM since the construction of the pipeline they have had to pay an average monthly sum of 3,000 kyat per household as a “security” or “maintenance” tax to local battalions. Also highlighted in Laid Waste are the intermittent demands for required sentry duty and travel restrictions denying villagers access to their farms and plantations, though at those times no apparent reason has been given by area battalions for filling these demands.

Since the Kanbauk to Mayaingkalay pipeline began operation in 2003, the most severe abuses committed by battalions have revolved around instances in which the pipeline ruptured or exploded and battalions’ subsequent security concerns.  Since 2003 the pipeline has been subject to frequent breaches and explosions.  These breaks have mostly been caused by construction errors and the low-tech process in which the pipeline was constructed and is currently maintained.  In that time HURFOM has learned that the length of pipeline from Kanbauk to Mayainkalay has experienced 13 large ruptures, and 18 small ruptures.  In 13 other instances, the pipeline has exploded or a gas leaking from a crack has ignited.  In 4 of the 13 cases, the burning gas damaged acres of plantations and parts of villages.

In the cases of ruptures or explosions, residents of villages closest to the location of the disruption often face a gamut of abuses raging from forced labor, pipeline security duty, tax extortion and repair costs, and even detention and torture. 7 years after the completion of the pipeline, these abuses still continue.

Current situation for pipeline ruptures and abuses

HURFOM has focused this report on the villages of Taung Pone in Ye Township and Kwan Hla village in Mudon Township due to the highrate of ruptures and explosions with in their domains.  As a result of these pipeline disruptions village residents have faced an increase in abuses ranging from extortion of repair and security costs, to forced labor, to arbitrary arrest, and travel restrictions.  In addition to abuses from local battalions, these communities must face the impacts escaping gas has on residents’ health and the local environment.

The data collected for this report has been gathered over a series of months, with the express purpose of illustrating the current conditions for residents living along the pipeline area. HURFOM field reporters were able

to interview 17 families from 15 villages under control of Light Infantry Battalions (LIB) No. 343 and No. 106, from May 25th to June 1st. However due to the severe security risks posed by commenting on abuses commuted by SPDC forces, some personal information has been omitted and names have been altered to protect the interviewees’ security.

In these cases, data was gathered from residents and community members willing to speak about their experiences. While this report focuses on the two most disrupted villages, this report’s data represents an ongoing and cyclical problem for communities that have the misfortune to have had the pipeline built within their vicinity.

Abuses related to gas ruptures in Taung Pon Village and Kwan Hla village

In the last 2 months Taung Pon and Kwan Hla villages have experienced an unusually high number of pipelineruptures. The villages are both located less then 1 mile from the Kanbauk-Myingkalay Gas pipeline and contain nearly 800 households and 1200 households respectively.

In these instances of pipeline ruptures, the impacts of these events have engendered the use of three categories abuse by SPDC forces. Soldiers will arbitrary arrest villagers and community leaders, simply due to their community role or the village’s proximity to the blast site, which to military forces makes them defacto suspects. Additionally, for pipeline repair purposes and to guard against blasts, soldiers will press locals into forced labor and portering to make repairs, and to undertake 24 hr guard shifts without support or compensation. Lastly villagers will sometimes be unable to access their own farms and plantations,or face travel restrictions beyond their village, over a battalion’s perceived security concern.

Arbitrary arrest and detention

In the most recent pipeline rupture in Taung Pon village, the gas ignited and villagers described to a HURFOM field reporter how a huge flame shot into the sky and burned for 2 and a half hours.

As a result of the explosion, Colonel Khin Maung Cho from Light Infantry Battalion (LIB) No. 343 based in Ar Yu Taung village, Northern Ye, called a meeting on May 21st with village peace and development councils (VPDCs) that are located along the gas pipeline, and specifically blamed the councils for the explosion. According to a member of a VPDC staff, the colonel issued an order that if another explosion occurred in any territory of a village, all the village headmen from the village in which the explosion occurred must be jailed.[4]

“All village leaders who [have been made to] take responsibility for the gas pipeline must be sent to jail if any explosion occurs in any village, and must pay for the compensation,” explained a villager who is close to a headman’s staff but requested anonymity due to the sensitivity of the subject. “He [the colonel] pressured us. No one [from the VPDC] dares to complain against that command in the meeting.”

From another account in the same village, a member of the VPDC staff in Ye Township, who preferred to remain anonymous, described the local commander’s reaction to the pipeline explosion:

I usually attend the meeting with chairman and secretary when the military call a blaming meeting. When an explosion occurred in Taung Bone village on May 19th, Colonel Khing Maung Cho from No. 343 LIB based in Northern Ye Township, called a meeting for all village headmen from Northern and Eastern parts of Ye Township. He blamed that many more crimes and violence are increasing while he is on duty in this region. He accused that some Eastern villages are connected with the KNU and [are] supporting to them. The military will take action on those villages very soon. Besides, he said, most of village headmen are not dutiful. The pipeline is exploded by bomb attacks. Many towns along the gas pipeline, Hpa-Ann cement factory and Yangon townships gets the electricity from this gas pipeline. So it is very important to be secured. If there will be another explosion in that pipeline in any village territory, all village’s headmen must be in jailed. The meeting was only one-way communication since no village headmen could talk back to the colonel.

One unusual circumstance that warrants note is the recent instance of an explosion occurring near Kwan Hlar village, Mudon Township, but rather than the expected reaction of arresting local leaders, villagers have reported that no one has yet been arrested. Many locals suspect that this sudden reversal is related to the SPDC’s effort to raise the current military regime’s image in the eyes of civilians prior to the election.[5]

After the rupture of the gas pipeline in Kanbauk-Myingkalay region near Kwan Hlar village, Mudon Township, the news collectors in that region documented the situation. Villagers were surprised by the fact that even though the rupture of the gas pipeline occurred, unlike in previous ruptures, there were no accusations made or arrests of civilians. One Kwan Hlar resident, Maung Thant Zaw, 26, who has just finished his school, told a HURFOM field reporter:

The situation in the previous cases differs from now.  The locals were arrested and accused out of suspicion by surrounding houses at the same night.  After that, all had to go to the office of the village-in-charge [VPDC office] for the bomber to be deduced.  If there was no resolution, the villagers had to take on that risk…[and] had to compensate for the damage. These processes have always occurred after any rupture of the gas pipeline.  At this time there has been nothing special till today [the interview was conducted on June 3rd].

On June 3rd, even though the local troops, the civilian security groups and the government authorities had yet to responded to the villagers by giving any reaction or punishment, a major from LIB No. 62, a local battalion, blamed a member of the TPDC for not caring about the local security and frequent ruptures of gas pipelines as a result of a lapse in attention.  The above youth said that  the major is a member of TPDC who is supposed to be responsible for village militia.  Regarding this case, he said as the following describing how the major blamed. A youth from the village, who preferred to remain unnamed, recounted the accusation he heard as the major passed the teashop he was in, “You, village authorities, did not report regularly what happens and what is strange in your region, so it happens this way.  Not knowing what happens in your region over time shows your village does not work.  Yangon has been lacking electricity for 3 days because of this rupture, so the higher officials blame us.”

The lack of action on the part of the local battalions in the face of a pipeline rupture has raised questions amongst local groups. Civilians who are familiar with political issues have raised questions about this judicial restraint as a political tactic by the government organizational strategy during the pre-election period.  However, most civilians said this sudden absence of accusations is a doubtful outcome to the situation.  A retired Township level member of NMSP who served for 12 years providing political analysis, explained to a HURFOM field reporter what he believes this unexpected absence of arrests means:

There is no immediate reaction against the civilians after the rupture, so this is strange [considering it is] during election campaign period.  Because [previously] only in Kwan Hlar village, there were 6 times when the gas pipeline ruptured.  People are arrested in every rupture.  The least punishment is that civilians collected the money and paid the fee for the damage.  No reaction or punishment means they don’t want a tarnished image and hate from the civilians.  Therefore, you asked me if this case was related to the coming election, so I answer yes, it was.

A Mon man who works as a political analyst in Mudon town and who monitors the current political situation in the region said:

I doubted this case.  It is not the same as the previous rupture.  Only their [government] technicians and professionals from the company responsible for the gas pipeline are secretly repairing the rupture.  There were some arrests and accusations during the previous ruptures. Now if they give any punishment to the civilians, the civilians do not want to favor them in the coming election.  It is too early to say because the gas pipeline is still being repaired.  After that no one can guess what will happen.  If the curved tail of a dog comes straight, it lasts just a moment.  We need time.

A retired member of the SPDC governmental staff who analyzed the situation, stated to HURFOM that the situation makes little sense when comparing the current situation with the rupture of the gas pipeline in Northern Ye on May 19th:

If the government wants to make their activities on the civilians good and popular during the pre-election period, why did they not stop their abuses at the rupture in Taung Pon village?  It is meaningless that they are campaigning in a selected area.  I think we at least have to compensate for the damage as usual.  After the repairing of the gas pipeline, like the previous ruptures, unfair financial demands – 20000 to 30000 [kyat] per household – will occur.  Anyhow, blocking the roads and not allow [villagers] to go to their farms is now happening.  And then paying 3,000 [kyat] per month to military [LIB] No. 318 as security fee is still one of the abuses put on us. These abuses are directly related to this gas pipeline.

Forced labor, guard duty and extortion

Villagers, regardless of their relation to or innocence in an explosion, inevitably face abuses by soldiers through forced portering and labor, guard duty and extortion of fees. Local battalions often issue orders to communities requiring locals to stand guard for 24 hr rotating shifts for sections of the pipeline. After a breach residents are forced to pay a “repair” cost ostensibly to cover supplies and labor for the work. However these costs are often arbitrary amounts and villagers forced to actually make the repairs never receive payment or compensations for their labor. Villagers that cannot pay their way out of the work duty for the battalion must consume their own meager resources and time making repairs to the pipeline and carrying materials and supplies. This abuse is devastating to communities’ lower income families that make up the large majority of residents, and who would otherwise be using their time trying to earn a daily income.

On May 25th the colonel who had threatened headmen in Taung Pon village, ordered villagers to guard the pipeline in continuous 24 hour shifts, collected taxes from villagers and hired people for pipeline security, said a staff member who had attended the meeting with his chairman on May 18th .The order for rotating forced labor affects villagers discriminately based on their ability to avoid the order through connections to local government administration or by hiring people to take their place. As a result families that are already living on a subsistence income must leave their jobs and work, to fill their guard role without payment or compensation.

Mi Khin San Myint, 38, from Bae LaMu village, northern Ye Township, Mon State, has Three Children (the youngest one is only eight months old) and is dependent on her husbands’ work at a rubber plantation for income. She explained how difficult it has been to feed her family after the local battalion issued orders to her village to make pipeline repairs:

It is now only my husband who feeds us – my children and me. We already expected that there would be a tax or routine pipeline guard after we heard pipeline explosion because we have experienced these same circumstances before. Now the military ordered [the] village headmen to again take action for pipeline security. Every household has to pay 5,000 kyats to the village headmen once a month if the household cannot guard the pipeline. We have to pay for village security and village guard support [i.e. meals]. Sometimes when the [LIB No.] 343 comes to the village they take chickens and ducks… We, the villagers, have to pay for that fee. It is around more than 4,000 kyat a month. Last month we had to pay for 6 Patetar of pork (Burmese weight, 1 patetar = 1.5 Kg), as demanded by Sergeant Maung Pyone [known by locals as Saya Gyi]. Every household has to pay bite by bite gradually, but it is around 4,000 to 5,000 kyat a month. This amount is not included for pipeline security costs of 5,000 kyat a month… As a result, the budget for our food is reduced because of those fees. Now, I cannot work, but only depend on my husband’s income. His income does not cover [costs] for the whole family. I am so sad when I hear my children crying for food they cannot eat daily. But I can do nothing for them. What a terrible life it is living here. No matter the gas pipeline is ruptured or spilled out, nothing is good for us. We, the villagers, always have to pay for the security fees or guard the pipeline. Besides, we fear for the authorities who usually torture the villagers without evidence regarding the pipeline explosion. No one can argue or complain about the situation. We all must suffer from these terrible treatments and pay money to them as we live in here.

Pho Kyin, 42, who lives in Hnin Sone village, northern Ye Township, Mon State, has no choice but to work for his income as a day labor often being hired to stand in other peoples stead, guarding the pipeline or carrying out manual labor:

I work every job. I own nothing but work as a hired worker. My daily income is just enough for my daily food. I always got hired to guard pipeline, railway and motorway by the military, LIB 343. My jobs are always with full of risks, but I have to work for my children. There are 90 to 100 households in my village. Our headman is a Karean guy named Saw KaPaw, aged 51. He said our village has to guard the pipeline as well even though the pipeline was not exploded near our village because the colonel commended us to do so. Each household has to guard two days, six people per village to take pipeline security. I usually get hired to guard the pipeline. People have to pay the village headman 5,000 kyat to pass their duty if they do not want to guard the pipeline. But I only get 3,000 kyat per night when the headman hires me. But my duty is not so easy as it looks. When the army found out I am sleeping or away for a while in duty time, they will insult me for sure. Besides, I have to serve them like setting fire, boiling water, buying food and so on while they monitor me on duty. I did that when the captain Lay Myint from LIB 343 came to my guard hunt. I cannot choose my work. I have to do the job I get. One thing I’m afraid of is when the authorities search for criminals; they use to catch innocent people. I always have to be careful and try not to be involved. A villager from my village, Saw Kyaw Pho, who was arrested and tortured by the military, is now mad. It is really unnerving. I not only have to worry about food but also for those abuses. But I have no choice because I live near the gas pipeline area.

A member of the VPDC staff in Ye Township, who preferred to remain anonymous, also told HURFOM his experience at the meeting in Taung Pon village:

Besides, he ordered that village headmen have to take tax from the villagers and pay for the pipeline damage. And also the residents have to guard along eastern roadside, bridges, and railway. Six to eight members per village and 24 hours a day have to take responsibility for security. If there is not a guard hunt, the village has to arrange for it by itself. We started guarding since after that meeting, but we don’t know when it will be ended. If the family cannot guard, it has to pay the money to hire another person. And the colonel ordered if the monitoring military find out a guard team who is absent from duty, all the villagers will be punished. Actually, the meeting I attended was just pressure and orders, but no discussion.

Travel restrictions

Villagers also face travel restrictions due to suspected collaboration with insurgents or due to proximity to the pipeline breach.  In these cases residents who make their daily income from farming and cultivation can face a drastic loss of income from languishing crops and fields.

According to Maung Thant Zaw, after the pipeline rupture in Kwan Hlar, some villagers were denied access to their paddy fields due to their proximity to the gas pipeline. The restriction comes as famers normally would begin fertilizing their fields during rainy season:

Over 40 acres of paddy fields near the ruptured part of the gas pipeline was defined as a restricted zone and a group of military technicians started repairing the damage.  The owners of these paddy fields are Nai Pan Tun, Mi Ma May and Nai Chit Thein.  They are not allowed to go to their farms.  Limiting movement is not good even though there is no accusations or arrests.  Now we have to start farming. We have to prepare the field land by mixing it with cow feces.  The local farmers and residents can’t go to their works because of the movement restrictions that have been ordered.  In my opinion, I mean as an opinion on the good aspects, limiting movement and defining a restricted zone is better than arrests and accusations of civilians and unfairly collecting money for the damage. [However] in the past, we haven’t been able to stay this way.

Health and Environmental impacts from gas ruptures in Taung Pon and Kwan Hlar villages

Besides the human rights abuses committed by local battalions, the physical impacts of leaking gas on both the health of residents and the local environment should be seriously considered as knock on abuses generated by the presence of the pipeline.

As noted above, ruptures and explosions are often large volumes of gas that will vent from pipelines, sometimes for months on end without any effort to make repairs. Villagers have little to no option to avoid noxious fumes, as they must continue to work for their survival and live in the presence of the fumes. As most incomes are derived from farming and day labor, villager’s work is inexorably connected to the stability of the local environment.

In the instance of one rupture of the gas pipeline near Taung Pon village, and gas leaking from pipeline near Kwan Hla village, in May, HURFOM interviewed two heath workers who described the impacts they encountered when treating villagers after exposure to gas from pipeline breaches.

According to data gathered by health workers in past ruptures, residents and villagers from neighboring villages that inhaled the gas, experienced a range of side effects depending on the length of time they were exposed, and the volume of gas was that they were breathing. In May health workers recorded the effects on civilians from two ruptures that occurred civilians in Taung Pon village and its surroundings. Reportedly villagers inhaled the noxious odors emitted from the gas pipeline rupture for several hours. A health worker from Sa Khan Gyi village, TanPhyuzayat Township who treats the patients in most villages explained his experience on how the gas caused side effects amongst the victims:

When I was attending the medical collage, I studied the possible impacts on people who inhale this sort of gases in large amount… Gas leaks rarely occurred in our region (most cases were ruptures).  I have encountered [instances where] the leaking gas caught fire and caused ruptures three times including this one. For people who are sensitive to even gas from a lighter, the smell released from numerous- cubic- feet-pressure pipeline for at least two to five hours is terrible.  No one can live within 1,000 feet [of the venting gas].  During past ruptures in La Mine village, it sounded “Ta shel shel” and you could taste the smell and hear the sound over a half-mile distant.  At that time, old women and asthmatic persons suffered from asthma, so I had to treat them for difficulty breathing.  They said that they inhaled the gas from the air which is released during the rupture, for a long time, and I realized the symptoms were due to that cause.  Other possible symptoms regarding gas inhalation are drowsiness, bronchitis, peripheral edema (swelling of hands and legs), etc.  These victims are those people who are sensitive to smells and have an underlining diseases.  It is not similar to allergy, for instance, where people who are sensitive to smell of bed bugs and strong smelling pesticides such as endrin.  Some people suffer from sneezing and tonsillitis due to pollens released from seasonal flowers.  According to my experience of the rupture in La Mine, the smell still remained in neighboring villages within one mile for 3 to 4 days after the rupture.  This is due to repair delays from the government.

A former health worker, 34, from the NMSP, who has 8 years of service in medical care, also describe to HURFOM how methane exposure can impact residents with respiratory illnesses as well as people who experience longer term exposure:

The natural gas includes large amount of methane.  It can spread through the air from 3 days to one week after the rupture depending on the strength of the rupture.  When I was in Kwan Hla village, I experienced the smell.  The smell has direct affects on the respiratory system.  Persons with weak lungs and underlining [tendency towards] asthma are susceptible to this smell.  Babies and the old people whose resistance is weak feel drowsiness.  Everyone can smell nothing else.  I found that, in Kwan Hla’s rupture, people went away for a couple of days when they tasted the smell.

Methane, which is chemically heavier then oxygen, will sink to the lowest levels of an enclosed space or room.  In such situations where there is little ventilation or in a closed of space like a room, there is potential for people who sleep or lie on the ground to actually suffocate due to an over abundance of methane in the air.

Extensive environmental research has been carried out on similar gas projects such as Yadana and Yetagun south of Kanbuak, and the Shwae fields in Arkan state. In Earth Rights International’s (ERI) 2009 groundbreaking report Totally Denial, findings indicate that the failure to adequately respond to environmental assessments conducted along the Yadana construction site have long term damaging effects on local ecosystems. While it’s apparent that such findings are could likely be extrapolated to the similar Kanbauk to Mayingkalay pipeline, there is a notable lack of research done on the environmental impact of leaking gas in the ecosystems of southern Burma[6].

A 31 year-old Mon man who lives in La Mine town and has knowledge of the local environment, explained his experience regarding negative environmental impacts after every rupture:

If the gas leaks (from the pipeline), it is expected sixty percent to rupture.  In both ruptures near our village, first, it leaked (from the pipe) and created bubbles in the water and smelled bad, and then it ruptured three days after. Leaking is a slow process from one crack due to high pressure, so pipes can’t stand [that pressure] even if they are made of iron.  In the second rupture, the gas caught fire and nearby rubber plantations were set on fire.  Not just gas but also whatever begins to burn produces carbon dioxide.  This makes more greenhouse gases in atmosphere.  Moreover, gas burning is not like other fuels.  It creates a huge flame that burns powerfully, so it is terrible to be near.  If there is a rupture near your quarter or village, you can’t really use a lighter or start a fire.  We have to warn (the civilians) a lot.  Everywhere can catch fire because the source of fire, the gas, is already in the air.  When the rubber plantations were on fire, the fires quickly spread from one place to another as the gas is in the surrounding air.  When I was working abroad (Singapore), the factory also used (natural) gas.  What I learned about the gas used there is that methane contained [in the gas] is in largest amount. Methane doesn’t stay in pipeline quietly, and it always tries to come out.  Therefore, frequent ruptures of gas pipeline are due to the pressure of that methane gas and pipeline’s…poor welding.  This is just my own opinion.  They (people in Singapore) work hard to maintain gas pipeline not to allow methane come out or leak. As I knew, they detect methane gas leaks using “remote sensing devices”. I think these (technologies) are not used here.

Conclusion

For 10 years human rights abuses practiced by numerous battalions of the Burmese SPDC have gone unchecked.  Abuses that HURFOM initially documented during the construction of the pipeline have shifted towards longer term broad based operational abuses that are part of a daily routine throughout the region surrounding the pipeline. As breaches and explosions have occurred along the pipeline, villagers and community leaders have paid the price for circumstances beyond their control.  Often facing threats, abuse, and arrest, village headman are threatened or arrested despite any legitimate involvement in the pipeline disruption.  Villagers pay the price through forced labor, required century duty, and arbitrary repair and upkeep costs, destroying the possible livelihoods of those who already struggle most with daily survival. People who live close to the pipeline will suffer both health and environmental impacts due to exposure to gas fumes, as well as travel restrictions and access to their own farms.

In the climate of the 2010 pre election period it is increasingly important to recognize the significant need for change or responsibility in these regions that are often overlooked. In particular, the unabated abuses around areas where the current and future governments will stand to receive significant profit must be addressed, otherwise regardless of the success or failure of the democratic process, the new government will be equally culpable for abuses as its predecessors.
Share/Bookmark


[1] The Burmese military government’s Yadana gas line, with the support of the French oil company Total, been found responsible for significant human rights violations after intense international scrutiny from Earth Rights’ International (ERI) and Burma Campaign UK.

[2] For more in depth exploration of reasons for Militarization along the pipeline see Laid Waste p 14-17.

[3] HURFOM has copies of Burmese army documents directly linking the relationship between these battalions and their role in maintaining the pipeline, which can be made available upon request.

[4] HURFOM has managed to collect copies of the order issued by LIB No. 343, wich can be made available upon request.

[5] Election efforts by the SPDC have been detailed in HURFOM’s monthly reports from November, December and January, amongst which there has been no previous accounts of judicial restraint.

[6] Methane, one of the predominant components of natural gas, is noted for is significant ability to trap heat and considered a significant greenhouse gas, is a leading factor in global warming.

Comments

Got something to say?

You must be logged in to post a comment.